Mind Games
by Lizxphile
Summary: Scully finds out that Diana Fowley used a mind control drug on Mulder to get information out of him, and when Diana tries it again it backfires in her face.


"Mind Games"

by Liz (lizxphile@goplay.com)

Rating: PG-13 for a few bad words and implied situations

Classification: Fowlfic, a teensy bit of shippiness

Summary: Scully finds out that Diana Fowley used a mind control drug on Mulder to get information out of him, and when Diana tries it again it backfires in her face.

Disclaimer: They're not mine, blah blah. No infringement intended.

Author's notes: Thanks to Mary for coming up with the title =) You do enjoy playing mind games with poor unsuspecting people, don't you?? (j/k **g**)

____________________

Mulder's apartment building

August 5th, 1999, 4:13 pm

Dana Scully walked dejectedly down the hall toward her partner

Fox Mulder's apartment. What an awful day. She had just been assigned

a big report for Skinner due the next day (we're talking a MASSIVE report,

the report to end all reports), her brother Bill had called her saying that

he was going to kill Mulder because he thought it was Mulder's fault that 

Scully had gotten suspended for a week (actually, it was her fault; she had

yelled and sworn at Skinner in front of the section chief) and to top all 

that off, she was exhausted and having a horrible hair day. Another thing that was bothering her was that Mulder hadn't shown up for work, and hadn't even had the courtesy

to call her. Scully had tried calling him, but his cell phone was turned off

and the phone at his house had been busy all day. She assumed he was sick and had been sleeping all day, or maybe there was some family emergency, but still, it wasn't characteristic of Mulder not to call her.

Scully knocked on Mulder's door and leaned back on the wall, closing

her eyes and massaging her temples. She thought she heard some movement inside the apartment, but wasn't sure if it was just her tired ears playing tricks on

her. Scully cautiously pressed her ear against the door and, hearing a few low

noises like thumps in the apartment, slowly took out her gun.

"Mulder?" she called. No answer. Now Scully was getting very worried.

Mulder might be in trouble. She took out her keys and found the copy of Mulder's

key that he had given her, and very quietly, with her gun ready, unlocked the

door, slowly swung it open and peered inside.

What she saw completely astounded her, shocked her, stopped her dead

in her tracks. There was Mulder, seemingly unconscious, lying on the couch

with one Diana Fowley on top of him. As Diana heard Scully's astonished gasp and

her keys and gun clattering to the floor, she whirled around, and seeing who

it was, quickly covered herself with a blanket.

"Why, Agent Scully! You don't just burst into someone's apartment

when the door's locked! I'm surprised at you!" Diana said in a mocking tone,

with a smug grin.

Scully just stood there, emotions boiling and seething within her, and 

stared at Mulder, then Diana, then back to Mulder.

"Wha - what.. the hell.. are you DOING to him??" she finally squeezed out

through clenched teeth, her voice escalating in volume with every word.

"What am I doing to him?" Diana asked innocently as she gathered her

clothes off the floor. "I think the right way to phrase that is what was HE

doing to ME?"

Scully's eyes widened, but as she gazed at Mulder lying on the couch

not moving, she said, "He's unconscious! What did you do to him?"

Diana came out of the next room where she had dressed and glared at Scully.

"I don't think it's your business what Fox does all the time," she said menacingly. "Now,

if you will, please leave us alone!"

Scully narrowed her eyes at Diana, and after retrieving her gun from the

floor, walked over to Mulder, covered him with a blanket and sat down next to him.

"Mulder," she said softly, ignoring the look of death Diana was giving her.

She gently shook Mulder. He stirred a bit and, not opening his eyes, turned

toward her and murmered "Scully?..."

"Mulder... I'm right here," Scully whispered, stroking his hair affectionately.

"Do you know where you are?"

Mulder's eyes opened slowly. "I'm... at home, I think," he said, struggling

to sit up. Then he saw Diana. "You!" he gasped, collapsing back onto the couch.

"You - you... injected me with something! I remember... you called me... what 

the hell..."

Diana walked over to him. "Fox, honey," she cooed. "It's OK to tell

Agent Scully about us, you know."

Scully frowned and shoved Diana out of the way. "Don't touch him!" she

exclaimed. "You INJECTED him with something??"

Diana once again glared at Scully. She started toward her, but Scully

trained her gun on Diana and sat back down next to Mulder.

"Get away! I don't believe you! Mulder doesn't either, right Mulder?"

Mulder just looked back and forth between Scully and Diana. "No... no,

you called me, said it was urgent and said you were coming over. I opened

the door and as soon as you stepped inside, you... shot me with a needle. Then

-then it was like I wasn't controlling myself..." Mulder closed his eyes again.

"That's it," Scully said angrily. "We're leaving, Mulder. I'm taking

you to the hospital."

"Fox, you're in denial. You can tell her how you feel about me," Diana

said pleadingly as Scully helped Mulder up. Mulder stared at Diana.

"How dare you do this to me," he said groggily. Scully handed him

his clothes and turned away as he got dressed.

"How could you do this to him?" Scully asked Diana, her eyes flashing

daggers. "You won't get away with this, if what Mulder says is true."

"Oh, is that so?" Diana asked, waltzing up to Scully and smirking at

her. "Just because you're so jealous of me doesn't mean that you can be such

a bitch to me. Just accept the facts -- Fox loves me and not you."

Scully stared at her for a second, then grabbed Mulder's arm. "Let's

go Mulder. I'll take care of you."

Diana scowled and started after Scully, who had Mulder's arm draped 

over her shoulder, supporting him.

"Leave him alone, you wild flaming BITCH!" Scully yelled, pointing

her gun at Diana. Then suddenly she saw a shiny silver object on the floor

near Diana's jacket. 

"What the hell is this?" Scully picked it up. It was about the length

of a pen, and looked suspiciously like some kind of hypodermic needle.

"BULLSHIT you didn't do anything to him!" Scully said hotly to Diana.

"That is my personal business, none of yours," Diana said quickly, trying

to snatch the needle away from Scully. Scully backed away and kept her gun trained

on Diana.

"It's for medical reasons. I'll die without that!" Diana pleaded.

Then I'll keep it, Scully thought to herself. "If this really is for some severe medical condition, if you had half a brain you would have a spare with you," she said with a frown.

"Not particularly Dr. Scully," Diana said, crossing her arms. "You don't know that."

Scully put the needle in her coat pocket and took Mulder's arm. "Come on, Mulder. We'll get you better."

After one more glare at Diana, Scully gently led Mulder out the door

and slammed it shut behind them. Diana sighed in exasperation and flopped down

onto the couch.

"I almost had him," she said to herself. "A little more time and he

would have told me everything I need. I'll do whatever it takes... even if it

means having to get rid of Scully..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully helped Mulder into the car and looked him over for any injuries he might

not have noticed. Mulder weakly protested, saying he was ok, but Scully insisted.

"Mulder, there's no telling what may have happened to you after she injected

you with... whatever it was," Scully said. "And you're sure she really DID inject

something into you?"

Mulder's eyes had been fluttering close to shutting, but they opened as he turned

to look at Scully and said forcefully "YES she did!"

Scully sighed, shut Mulder's door and got in the driver's seat. She fingered the

needle in her pocket, and thought about how best to go about analyzing what was, or had been

inside it. Scully also didn't know whether to take Mulder to the hospital or not. He seemed

to be getting a little less groggy and more alert, so she decided to wait and see what the 

contents of the needle had been.

"Where are we going?" Mulder asked in a cranky tone as Scully started the car.

"First we're going to the forensics lab to see what was or is in the needle, then

we're either going to the hospital or maybe my house, just in case Fowley is still at yours,"

Scully responded. "I don't want to bring you to the hospital until we know what's in you."

Before going to the FBI labs, Scully decided to drop Mulder off at her house. He had

fallen asleep in the car and Scully thought it wasn't a very good idea to take him anywhere; he

needed rest so that whatever was in his system would wear out. 

"Mulder, don't answer the door or phone or anything, ok?" Scully said as she walked out

the door. "Just rest, alright?... Mulder?"

He was already zonked out on the couch. Scully smiled to herself and left for the lab.

On the way there, she reflected on what had happened. Right now the big thing bothering her about this whole situation was what Diana had been doing to Mulder, _her_ Mulder. Scully sighed as she realized what she was thinking; it was only about the

hundredth time since she had walked into Mulder's apartment that she had thought about this. 

She knew he would probably never realize how she felt about him, and knowing that only 

made this worse for her. 

"What am I thinking?" she asked herself outloud. "There's no reason for me to be 

jealous. He isn't mine or anything..." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

FBI Crime Lab

4:57 pm

"Well, you've got yourself some drug here," the agent in the lab said after analyzing

the small amount of substance left in the needle.

"What is it?" Scully asked.

"Hard to say. A major component is LSD, but the rest of it

is something I've never seen before. I have no idea what it is," the agent explained, with a 

slightly perplexed look on his face. "Where did you say you got this?"

Scully paused. "Um... I found it during an investigation. What would be

the effect of this drug if injected into someone?"

The agent shrugged. "Other than the obvious effects of the LSD, I have no idea. Might

be dangerous, might not be."

Scully drew in a breath sharply. "Thank you," she said hastily to the agent. She 

retrieved the sample of the drug that had been analyzed and drove quickly back to her apartment.

Scully was afraid that Mulder might possibly be dangerously ill.

"Mulder?" she called as she opened the door.

"Scully." the answer came faintly from the couch. "I'm here, Scully."

Mulder pulled himself off the couch and went to meet Scully.

"Hiya doing?" Scully asked him. 

Mulder rubbed his eyes. "I feel wasted," he muttered, collapsing onto a chair. "And

embarrassed."

"It could've happened to anyone, Mulder," Scully said sympathetically, touching his arm.

"And you should feel wasted. Nearly half of what she injected you with was LSD."

"I'm afraid to ask what the rest of it was," Mulder said, looking up at Scully.

"Well... it's an unidentified drug," she told him gently. "There's no telling what it may

have done to you."

"Dammit..." Mulder muttered, his head dropping into his hands.

"How are you feeling?" Scully asked, feeling his forehead.

"I dunno... tired... and stoned..."

"You don't have a fever. Do you remember what happened EXACTLY?"

Mulder frowned, as if concentrating on a thought that was eluding him. "Like I said, she

called and said there was some information she had about an x-file that was urgent and she was going to come over. I opened the door and she grabbed my arm and stuck me with the needle... right here." He pulled his sleeve up and showed Scully the small puncture wound where the needle had entered him.

"Then what?" Scully asked, sitting down next to him and looking at his arm.

"Then... it was like I was watching her and me from outside my body... I had no control

over what she was doing," Mulder said. "Ow!" he suddenly exclaimed and pulled his arm away from

Scully.

"Sorry Mulder," Scully said, "but your arm is swelling up a bit around the point of 

injection. I think you should go to the hospital just to make sure there's no harmful effects

of the drug that you haven't noticed yet."

Mulder frowned and crossed his arms. "Scully, I'm fine!"

"You may not be," Scully said. "Just to be on the safe side, ok?"

"No way." Mulder shook his head.

Scully sighed. This could take a while. "Mulder, what if there are unknown fatal side

effects of this drug that hasn't shown up yet? You might be in a lot of trouble."

Mulder contemplated Scully's words. If it would make her feel better...

"Fine. I'll go," he consented. "But only because you insist and I trust your judgement."

Scully breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Mulder. It's for your own good. And after

they check you out, there's somewhere I'd like to take this drug to be analyzed by some 'experts'

who might actually know what it is."

"Who?" Mulder inquired.

"A few certain people who are lucky I haven't killed them yet for tricking me into going

out to Las Vegas. Let's get going, Mulder."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Diana Fowley stepped into the black car that was waiting for her at the curb and shut the

door as it pulled away.

"Thank you for seeing me," Diana said as she settled into the dark car. A billow of

smoke rose from the front seat.

"I trust you have a good reason for arranging this meeting?" the figure in the front seat

said, turning around to face Diana. CSM puffed on his Morely and regarded Diana carefully.

"Yes, I do. Agent Scully has some of the drug I used on Fox," Diana said. "She came

to his apartment and found me there. She woke Fox up, found the needle and took it and him away."

The CSM stopped puffing away on his cigarette for a split second, then asked "How much had you

gotten out of him?"

Diana squirmed a little in her seat, not pleased with what she had to tell him. "Nothing

yet, but I was just starting to question him when Scully burst in."

The CSM leaned back in his seat and lit up another cigarette. This was a bad development.

"Well, Diana, I'm sure you'll find a way to take care of this," he said calmly. "And be sure to do it correctly this time."

Diana quickly nodded. "I'll make sure Agent Scully is taken care of before I proceed with Fox," she said. "I'll make sure she never knows what was in the needle."

"Good. I'm sure Mulder knows where that talisman is, he was the last person to see Krycek before he disappeared with it," CSM mused. "Did you look around his apartment?"

"Yes I did," Diana said. "I didn't find anything out of the ordinary."

The car then halted in front of Diana's apartment. 

"Remember Diana, ask him everything I told you to, and search his apartment again. We have to find out what he knows," CSM said as Diana got out of the car.

"Don't worry, I won't let him get away. As for Agent Scully… well, I never liked her much anyway. I'll take care of her, don't worry," Diana said to CSM. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Diana," CSM replied, and the car pulled away, leaving Diana on the sidewalk, planning her next evil move.

Mulder laid back on the couch, surrounded with computers and various other high-tech devices in the Lone Gunmen's hideout. He had been checked out at the hospital, and no unidentified toxins had been found in his system, just LSD. He still felt like complete crap, but was glad that he wasn't going to die from some strange toxin.

"Jesus, Scully, where the hell'd you get this stuff?" Frohike asked in amazement after he, Langly and Byers had put the substance through their own personal analysis.

"Diana Fowley injected Mulder with it. We don't know what she wanted, but I found her… um, with him in his apartment and he was unconscious. I found that needle on the floor, and Mulder had a mark on his arm that was seemingly from a shot," Scully explained. "Do you know what it is?"

Byers sat down at one of the computers and brought up a picture of a big complex molecule that Scully didn't recognize. "Well, we do and we don't. We've seen this drug a few times before. It's suspected to be a secret experiment the government is working on; no one knows the actual composition of the drug, but it's said to be a mind controlling agent that also takes away people's memories of selected events."

"Yeah. Some people think it's the stuff that aliens use to take away abductee's memories," Langly added. "I like to believe the secret government experiment explanation, but you never know."

Scully's eyes widened. "You mean that bitch was controlling Mulder's mind??" she exclaimed shrilly. She narrowed her eyes and glared off into space. "I'll kill her!!"  


Frohike cracked a smug grin and glanced at Byers and Langly. "She's so hot when she's pissed off! So beautiful, yet so… _dangerous_…"

Scully turned her glare on Frohike. "Very funny," she muttered, her face reddening. Why the hell couldn't Mulder make cracks like that about her. 

Rolling her eyes, Scully went over to talk to Mulder, only to find that he had fallen asleep (again).

"Poor Mulder," she said with a sigh, touching his shoulder as he slept. He muttered something, turned away from Scully and went right on sleeping.

"Well, this drug or whatever must either fade out of people's systems very quickly or it was designed to be not detected in tox scans," Byers commented, still looking at the computer screen. "You said nothing except LSD showed up at the hospital?"

"Yeah," Scully replied, then frowned. One thing was still puzzling her. "But why in hell would Diana Fowley want to control Mulder's mind and steal his memories?"

Frohike, Langly and Byers all looked at each other and shrugged. "Maybe she just wanted him back real bad," Frohike suggested with a goofy grin spreading across his face.

"NO!!! Well – I mean, no, I – I refuse to even consider that as a possibility!! That's just… not realistic…" Scully trailed off, at a loss for words. That couldn't possibly be true. Scully had always known that Diana Fowley was a skank, but she never thought that she would go to such extreme measures…

"Oooh, I think someone's jealous!" Langly teased. 

"I most certainly am not!" Scully shot back quickly, hoping he couldn't see through her façade. All the jealousy and rage that had smothered her when she first walked into Mulder's apartment had surfaced again with Langly's friendly taunt. "I am _not _jealous of Diana Fowley and I never will be! Besides, how could she really care for Mulder when she's done such an awful thing to him?"

The Lone Gunmen stopped their snickering and, after thinking for a minute, nodded in agreement. "Good point. She must have wanted something from him," Byers concluded.

"But what?" Scully mused, beginning to pace around the room. "Mulder hasn't been working on any big time high profile X-files lately… maybe it goes back to some other… wait!" she exclaimed, stopping her pacing. "He told me that he had a run in with Alex Krycek last week. Maybe that has something to do with this."

At that moment, Mulder woke up from his little catnap, a little disoriented at first.

"Damn… what time is it?" he said, suppressing a yawn as he sat up and looked around.

"It's 6:45. Boy, you look like shit," Frohike commented.

"Thanks for the enlightenment," Mulder responded wryly. "So, did you boys find out what that stuff is?"

"Gosh Mulder, when did you fall asleep? The second you got here?" Langly asked Mulder. "We already told Scully. It's a government mind control/memory erasing drug. At least, that's the popular opinion on this stuff. You should be fine."

"I guess I fell asleep kinda soon after we got here," Mulder admitted, standing up and stretching. "I just can't seem to stay awake for long."

"We should go, Mulder. If you're that tired you should be resting at home, not other random places like the car, here, or the hospital," Scully said.

"Yeah… I wouldn't mind going home now."

"Ok." Scully turned to the Lone Gunmen. "Thanks for looking at this stuff for us, guys."

"Any time, pretty lady," Frohike said with a goofy grin, which vanished as Scully gave him a Look. "Ok ok, sorry Scully," he said, sounding defeated.

"Well, hope you feel better Mulder," Langly said as Mulder and Scully headed out the door.

"Thanks," Mulder replied. "And if you uncover any new mind-boggling conspiracies, gimme a call."

"Of course," Byers said with a smile. "We're sending out the new issue of the newsletter in a few days, chock full of the latest breaking conspiracy news."

"Can't wait," Mulder said. "Thanks for the help."

Scully led Mulder out the door, and helped him to the car; he had already almost fallen twice. They drove back to his apartment in silence.

"I'll walk you in just in case Diana or someone else is there again ok?" Scully said as she parked in front of Mulder's building.

"Ok… thanks, Scully," Mulder said, wincing as he stepped out of the car. "Owwww, my head…"

"You should take some asprin and go straight to bed," Scully suggested, getting into doctor Scully mode. She held Mulder's arm as they walked down the hall toward apartment # 42.

Scully unlocked the door quietly and listened. Nothing. She walked further in, beckoning to Mulder as she went, and turned on the lights.

"No one here," she announced, breathing a sigh of relief. 

"Scully, um… do you mind staying here for a little while, if that's ok? Just kinda to keep me company…"

Scully smiled. "Sure Mulder. I'd love to."

"Great, thanks. It's just that I don't feel too well still, and it would be nice to have a little company right now," Mulder confessed. "Well, I'm going to take a shower now, so just make yourself at home."

"Ok." Scully sat down in the kitchen and yawned as she found a file of Mulders to look over, while he headed for the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Mulder came out of the shower feeling a little better and found Scully fast asleep on the couch. He sat down on the floor in front of her and sighed. 

"I am _so_ sorry, Scully," he said softly, letting his head fall into his hands. "I can't believe you had to see Diana doing that to me. I, um… I just want you to know that I don't have feelings for her, I…" he trailed off. "I have feelings for _you_."

Mulder sat in silence, watching Scully sleep, for about two minutes, then realized he was starving, got up and went into the kitchen too search for some food. As per usual, there was none to be found except a half-empty box of cornflakes, some potatos, a bottle of orange juice from 10 months ago and a can of tuna. Mulder checked all the cabinents twice, and finally decided to order a pizza.

He went into the living room, debating whether to wake Scully up or not. He had no idea what she liked, so he decided it would be best to ask her.

"Hey… Scully," he whispered, gently shaking her. "What kind of pizza do you like?"

Scully rolled over and opened one eye halfway. "What?… pizza?" she asked sleepily.

"Yeah, I'm hungry and there's no food around here," Mulder said. "What kind of pizza do you want?"

"Um… I don't really care," Scully said, fully opening both her eyes and sitting up.

"Okie dokie." Mulder grabbed the phone "How 'bout green peppers, anchovies and pineapples?"

"Whatever, Mulder," Scully said with a yawn, then realized what he had proposed. "Wait! Ew! Peppers and anchovies I could deal with, but _pineapple??_"

Mulder sighed. "Fine. No pineapples." 

As he ordered, Scully laid down again. "Wake me up when the food's here," she muttered, turning away from Mulder and shutting her eyes. "I'm exhaused."

Mulder finished ordering and hung up the phone. " 'k Scully. Want a blanket or something?"

"Yeah, that would be nice," she murmered, already half asleep.

Mulder went into his bedroom and grabbed a blanket off the bed. He brought it out to Scully and gently laid it over her. She was already sound asleep.

With nothing else to do, Mulder settled down on the end of the couch with the remote and the TV on softly and waited for the pizza to arrive.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Diana Fowley sat in her car outside Mulder's apartment building, having just watched Mulder and Scully go inside. She had her new plan all laid out, and things were going well so far. Her original plan had been to inject Scully somehow and tell her to go overdose on something; that would get her out of the picture. Then, Diana would be free to talk to Mulder, inject him again and get what she needed out of him. But, it was even better that Scully was apparently staying with Mulder for a while, because now Diana could go talk to them together and convince them that she had been part of a cruel experiment or something. That way, she could get on their good side (Mulder's at least), catch them off guard and get both of them.

Diana smiled to herself, thinking of what a fool proof plan she had conjured up. A little more time, she thought, and she'd go up to Mulder's apartment.

The shrill ringing of her cell phone startled Diana out of her thoughts. She picked up the phone and answered "Hello?"

"Are you proceeding with the plan?" the CSM's voice came over the phone.

"Yes, I am. I'm just about to go talk to them."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Them?" CSM inquired.

"Scully is apparently staying with him for a while," Diana said, still watching the building carefully.

"I see. Well, exercise extreme caution this time. Inform me when you are through with them."

There was a click, and Diana heard dead air on the other end of the phone. Hanging up, she got out of her car and walked cautiously up to the front of the building, slipping two hypodermic needles into her pocket. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There was a knock at the door. Mulder, who had been dozing in front of the TV, woke up with a start and pulled himself off the couch, being careful not to wake Scully and turned off the TV as he headed for the door. Looking through the little peephole thing, he saw the pizza guy standing there.

"Food at last," he said to himself as he opened to door. As he paid the pizza guy, he thought he saw a familiar face get off the elevator and duck around the corner. Mulder blinked and just attributed what he saw to fatigue, (or the LSD) and shutting the door behind him brought the pizza into the living room.

"Hey, Scully, pizza's here," he said softly, sitting down on the couch and setting the box on the coffee table.

Scully stirred and mumbled "…food?"

"Yup." Mulder started in on a big steaming piece and waved it around in front of Scully. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Wow, I am so tired," she commented, taking a piece of the pizza. "And hungry."

The two of them sat eating in silence for a few minutes, then Mulder remembered who he thought he had seen in the hall.

"By the way, Scully, know what? When I was paying the pizza guy, I could've sworn I saw Diana getting off the elevator."

Scully stopped munching on the pizza and raised her eyebrows at Mulder. "Are you sure?"

"Well, I dunno. I mean, I could have been mistaken, but-"

There was suddenly a knock at the door. Scully stood up abruptly and, pushing off the blanket, grabbed her gun. Mulder did the same and, guns in hand, they walked warily towards the door.

Scully motioned for Mulder to stay behind her. She cautiously peeked through the little peephole in the door and sharply drew in a breath. It was her. Resisting the urge to go straight out there and shoot her in the head, Scully turned to Mulder. "It's her!" she whispered urgently. "Mulder, you go over there and I'll go behind the door. Tell her to come in."

Mulder nodded and turned off the lights as Scully moved into the shadows behind the door and kept her gun trained on it. 

"Come in," Mulder called, and backed into the shadows on the opposite side of the door.

The door opened, and Diana walked cautiously in. "Hello?" she called, looking around the dark apartment.

"Why'd you do it?" Mulder's voice suddenly came out of the darkness. Diana jumped and, looking for the source of his voice, said "Fox? Can we talk?"

Mulder revealed himself from the shadows, his gun pointed at Diana.

"I asked why you did it," he repeated, giving her an icy glare. At that moment Scully moved out of the shadows as well, regarding Diana with a narrow-eyed stare that would kill if given the opportunity.

"Fox, can I explain myself without being shot?" Diana asked with a small smile, trying to make light of the situation. Mulder just continued to glare at her.

"Please, go right ahead," Scully said sharply, though it was more of an order than a request. Diana started walking towards the TV room, and Mulder and Scully followed her with their guns still on her. She sat down in a chair and dropped her head into her hands.

"Look, I just wanted to apologize. This afternoon, Fox, I had been injected with the same drug that I gave you, and told to get information out of you. Some men in black suits approached me earlier today and asked me if I knew anything about a talisman you may have, and if I would question you. I said I wouldn't and they injected me with that mind-control drug." Diana paused and lifted her head to look at Mulder, then at Scully. "You see the position I was in? I had no more control over what I was doing than you did, Fox. Can you two ever forgive me?"

Scully glanced at Mulder, wondering if he was buying any of this. Diana was not exactly trustworthy and her story seemed a little too perfectly planned for Scully. First of all, if Diana still had feelings for Mulder (which Scully was certain of) why hadn't she agreed to go question him about this talisman? She probably would have jumped at the oppertunity if she really did still like Mulder. Second, Diana wasn't acting at all drugged when Scully had found her with Mulder; in fact, she had seemed to have perfect control over herself, and unfortunately over Mulder as well.

Mulder just looked at Diana for a minute or two, as if he was deciding whether to believe her or not. "Excuse us," he said hastily, getting up and grabbing Scully's arm, leading her into the other room.

"What is it, Mulder?" Scully whispered.

"She's lying. I know she is," Mulder whispered back confidently.

"How can you tell?"

"It's hard to explain. It's just one of those feelings, but I _know _she isn't telling us the truth."

Scully sighed. "Ok, but what do we do?"

"I don't know. But we should pretend we believe her, and when we let our guard down will be when she'll make any move she was planning, so we have to act like we're letting our guard down ok?"

"Ok." Mulder and Scully turned back to the TV room where Diana hadn't moved from her previous position.

"Diana, I talked with Scully and we decided we don't want to be in a fight with you. I understand that you were under the influence of that drug, and Scully did analyze it and found that it was partly LSD and some other drug so it's probably some sort of government experiment. And I have no clue about any talisman," Mulder added. 

Scully sat down on the couch and put her gun down, although she made sure it was close to her. Forcing a fake smile onto her face, she turned to Diana. "And I'm sorry for blowing up at you. I had no idea _you_ were under the influence, too."

Diana smiled. This was easier than I thought it would be, she thought to herself. "Thank you so much. I respect the two of you greatly, and I wouldn't want to be on bad terms with either of you."

Mulder smiled too. "How 'bout a drink?" he asked. Diana nodded. "Yes, that would be nice, thank you." Mulder walked into the kitchen and gave Scully a look that plainly said _WATCH HER!!_

What the hell am I supossed to do, Scully thought to herself. I can barely stand being in the same room as the bitch, much less talk to her or anything. What a fake story too. Couldn't she have come up with a better one? I mean, there was no way that she could have been under the influence of anything, she was perfectly fine. 

Scully smiled (a little too cheerfully) at Diana. "So… how have you been?"

"Well, work's going fine, but as you may have figured out, I've been approached by secret-service type men from the government numerous times," Diana said in a perky voice. "They just won't leave me alone! Do they do that to you?"

Wow, Scully thought. How incredibly lame. "Well, sometimes…" she said slowly. "Not recently though."

There was an awkward pause. "So, how's Fox doing?" Diana asked.

Uh oh, what's this leading up to? Scully thought to herself. "Oh, he's doing just great, really, he's… been doing really well lately."

Luckily at the moment Mulder broke the tension by returning with three glasses of wine. Scully breathed a barely audible sigh of relief and took the glass Mulder offered her with a wry smile directed towards him.

"So. You two making up?" Mulder asked with a grin. He sat down next to Scully, trying to emphasize the fact that he didn't go sit near Diana.

"We had a pleasant conversation, yes," Diana said, sipping the wine.

As Mulder talked with Diana about nothing in particular (which made poor Scully insanely jealous of course, but she didn't let it show), Scully very discreetly took her gun from the couch next to her and put it under her jacket, making sure Diana didn't see what she was doing. She picked up her jacket and stood up. "Excuse me," she said. "I'll be right back."

Mulder knew that Scully was up to something, and noticed that she had taken her gun with her. He had no idea what she was going to do, so he just continued talking to Diana about random little things that didn't matter, like gossiping about other agents and so forth.

A few minutes later, Mulder's cell phone rang from the kitchen.

"I'll be back in a minute," he said to Diana as he got up and went into the kitchen. 

"Mulder," he answered.

"Mulder, it's me," the familiar voice came over the line.

Mulder frowned. "Scully?? Where are you? And what are you doing?"

"I'm in the bathroom. We should leave her alone to see if she's going to do anything."

"What should I do?"

"Just stay on the phone and pretend you're talking to… I don't know, someone, but be aware ok?"

"Ok." 

"I can see her from where I am, so I'll tell you if she makes any suspicious moves." Scully paused. "Mulder, you're sure she isn't telling the truth?"

"Positive. I just feel it somehow…"

"Ok, I trust your judgement. Now keep talking."

Diana watched Mulder as he talked to whoever was on the phone. He was wandering aimlessly around the kitchen. The evil gears in Diana's head started turning, slowly but surely, and she decided it was now or never.

She got up, being careful that Mulder didn't see or hear her, and crept up behind him. Reaching into her pocket, she drew out one of the needles, and was about to poke it into Mulder's arm when he suddenly whirled around and caught her by the arm.

"Nice try. I didn't believe you for a second." Mulder hung up his cell phone, and Scully came into the room a moment later. Diana glared at them.

"You won't get away this time!" she screeched, and took the other needle out of her pocket, prepared to get Scully with it. Scully just grabbed her other arm and held her firmly. "Sorry, no way out of this one, Diana," Scully said with a tone of mockery in her voice.

Diana gave a squeal like an enraged guinea pig and started to thrash about. She succeeded in kicking Mulder (in just the right place), causing him to fall on the floor, doubled up in pain. The needle in her right hand dropped to the floor, and she turned to Scully, who had taken out her gun. Diana whacked the gun out of Scully's hand and gave her a sound smack in the face. Scully stumbled backwards, stunned, and Diana took that oppurtunity to lunge at her with the second needle. Before Scully knew what had hit her, Diana pricked her arm, but the needle was suddenly withdrawn; Diana's face took on a weird look, a combination of pain, fear, and mostly rage. Scully pulled away from her (they were both on the floor by now) and discovered that Mulder had retrieved the second needle from the floor where it had fallen and stuck it into Diana's backside.

"You all right Scully?" Mulder asked with concern, kneeling next to her.

"I'm fine, Mulder." Scully slowly stood up and, though she felt a little woozy and her cheek was still stinging, discovered that she really was fine.

"Good, I was afraid she got some of that stuff into you," Mulder said, then frowned. "She slapped you??"

Scully touched her face, which made it sting worse, and just said "Yeah, but I'm fine. Really. Are you?"

"I think so." They both turned their attention to Diana then, who was lying on the ground, conscious, with a confused look on her face.

"Um… what is she thinking?" Scully asked. "Is she still dangerous?"

Mulder helped Diana up and sat her down in a chair. "Diana? Can you hear me?"  


Diana sat there and looked at Mulder. "Yeah, of course Fox," she murmered. "Where… are we at your house?"

Scully glanced at Mulder, unsure what he was going to do next.

"Yes Diana we are. Can you tell me why you're here?"

"They wanted me to question you," she said, frowning. "They think you have a talisman that Krycek had."

Mulder nodded. "Who wanted you to question me?"

"CGB Spender… he told me to get rid of Agent Scully and inject you and talk to you…"

Scully started smiling a little. It was fun to see Diana like this. "Hey Mulder," she whispered. "Tell her to go back to the Smoking Man and tell him what happened here."

Mulder turned back to Diana. "Diana, here's what I want you to do. Go back to the men who gave you the orders and tell them exactly what happened here tonight, ok?"

Diana stared at him for a second, then got up and headed for the door. "Ok." Without another word, she left.

Mulder breathed a sigh of relief. "Wow. Good thing she didn't get us again or you'd be toast and I'd be in lots of trouble, huh?"

Scully nodded, though she looked a bit confused. "Yeah…"

"Scully, are you really ok?" Mulder repeated. "She did get you with the needle, you know."

"Yeah she did." Scully sank down onto the couch and closed her eyes. "I don't fell so well, Mulder."

Mulder had a thought. "Scully. Go sit over there," he said.

Scully, without hesitation, sat down where Mulder pointed to and frowned. "My head hurts…"

With a soft chuckle, Mulder took Scully's arm and guided her into his bedroom and onto the bed. It was all he could do to keep himself from making her do something she'd regret in the morning. "Get some rest, Scully, and let it wear off ok?"

"Let what wear off?"

"Just go to sleep, I'll be out in the TV room."

Scully nodded and laid down on the bed; she was asleep in minutes. Mulder stood and watched her fall asleep, then quietly shut the door and returned to the TV room, smiling to himself.

~*~Epilogue~*~

"A woman's body was found in the Potomac river yesterday afternoon, apparently the victim of a murder. She was carrying no I.D. at the time of her killing, and no one has come forth to identify the body yet. An autopsy was conducted but showed no possible causes of death; the only distinguishing feature being a puncture wound to the gluteus maximus and what appears to be a bee-sting on the nape of her neck. Any information concerning this killing and the identity of this woman would be appreciated and should be called in to the FBI or the police."

-DC Chronicle, Thursday, August 7th, 1999

~~~~~*~~~~~

Mulder slapped the newspaper down in front of Scully. "Check this out"

Scully scanned the article that the paper was open to, and on finishing it, looked up at Mulder.

"Do you think it's her?"

Mulder shrugged and sat down next to his desk, where Scully was seated. "I don't know, but it's a good bet. I basically signed her death certificate by telling her to go tell the smoking man what had happened." He sighed. "I shouldn't have done it."

Scully reached out and patted his arm. "Mulder, don't feel responsible. It was her fault that she got mixed up with them, and she knew that the position came with risks. And it was her fault that she thought she could mess with _us_, of all people." She gave him a warm smile. "People should _know_ not to mess with us."

Mulder smiled weakly but still looked somewhat depressed. "But it is my fault in a way… I mean, I didn't like her much, but she didn't have to die."

"No it isn't your fault, don't think that! She knew what she was getting into, hopefully she saw it coming."

Mulder still wasn't convinced, but he let the subject go, resting his head in his arms and letting Scully throw the newspaper into the recycle box. The subject of Diana Fowley was never thought of again by either of the agents.

~The end~


End file.
